| PLOWRIGHT WORLD Ancient History Languages - Akkadian |
| Section from Chapter 5 of John Heise's `Akkadian language', about Semitic languages in general. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akkadian, the oldest Semitic language The following is adopted (in abbreviated form) from Egyptian and the Afro-Asiatic Languages. Afro-Asiatic languages Akkadian is a Semitic language, belonging to the family of Afro-Asiatic languages, also called Hamito-semitic language. N.B.: The terms "semitic" and "hamitic" are actually linguistic terms, not ethnic designations. They do not refer to racial or ethnic groups, but rather to language groups. A Semite is one who speaks a semitic language. A hamite is one who speaks a hamitic language. This has always been true, despite popular misuse of the terms. The AFRO-ASIATIC FAMILY, or the HAMITO-SEMITIC FAMILY of languages encompasses nearly all the languages of the Near East and northern Africa. The Afro-asiatic family consists of six coordinate branches, each branch with its own set languages. Egyptian (ancient Egypt): Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Demotic, Coptic Cushitic (East Africa south of the Sahara): Galla, Somali, Oromo, Bedawiye, Hadya Semitic (western Asia): Akkadian, Aramaic, South Arabic, Arabic, Hebrew, Eblaite, Amorite, Maltese, Ugaritic, Amharic, Canaanite, Phoenician Chadic (West Africa south of the Sahara): Hausa, etc. Berber (North Africa west of Egypt): Numidian, Tuareg, Riff Omotic (southern Ethiopia): Omotic Source: |